We at Fantasy-Faction were big fans of Amy McCulloch’s The Oathbreaker’s Shadow. In fact, we rated it as one of our top fantasy titles of 2013. It seems we were right in doing so as well, because when I attended the Young Adult Literature Convention a few weeks back Amy was getting lots of attention from fans and those I spoke to who had read it had nothing but praise for the novel. With this in mind, it’s surprising that until this week there was no US release date set.
My guess would be that a few years ago the Young Adult Fantasy was dominated by the Urban Fantasy, Romance and Vampire type story, so Amy’s Epic Fantasy tale was a bit more of a risk then (again, a guess). Now though, we’ve seen quite a few epic fantasy novels start to trickle in and the market isn’t so dominated by those 2 or 3 huge titles. Whatever the reason, the US have realised American readers NEED to be able to find Amy’s novels on shelves and acted on it. Here is the absolutely beautiful cover that the Americans have come up with:
As you can see, it is VERY different to the UK design (to your right). The American publishers, Flux, have decide to go for something more symbol based, i.e. The Old Kingdom (Abhorsen), The Hunger Games or Divergent as opposed to say the action-character shots of many versions of The Throne of Glass or Graceling Realm books (that Amy’s UK novels are reminiscent of).
I think it is probably a good move. There is no doubt that Amy’s books are readable whatever age you may be. I think Amy’s UK covers are absolutely beautiful, but I can see how some adults may be put off by them if they don’t generally read Young Adult. The first thing I thought of when I saw the new US cover was ‘Sabriel’ and I remember when I was reading Amy’s book that the novels the tone was most similar to were those Old Kingdom books (which Sabriel is the first of), so that all ties it together nicely I feel.
Edit: After typing this blog post up I found the following words from Amy McCulloch on the new cover: “My US editor and I went back and forth with images, looking at inspiration in the market like Graceling and Sabriel and The Ropemaker. We knew we wanted to get across the non-Western setting of the novel, and the idea of fire and heat. I think all those elements are present, so the Flux art department did well!” I guess the Sabriel likeness makes even more sense now! 🙂
Here is the blurb:
Warrior. Traitor. Saviour.
Fifteen-year-old Raim lives in a world where you tie a knot for every promise that you make. Break that promise and you are scarred for life, and cast out into the desert.
Raim has worn a simple knot around his wrist for as long as he can remember. No one knows where it came from, and which promise of his it symbolises, but he barely thinks about it at all – not since becoming the most promising young fighter ever to train for the elite Yun guard. But on the most important day of his life, when he binds his life to his best friend (and future khan) Khareh, the string bursts into flames and sears a dark mark into his skin.
Scarred now as an oath-breaker, Raim has two options: run, or be killed.
There is still a bit of a wait, but US readers should mark February 2015 on their Fantasy Book Buying Calendars, because that’s when it’ll be hitting your local bookshop!
